Knitting-needle.



K. W. P. REECE.

KNITTING NEEDLE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13. I917.

1,61,53 PatentedApr. 9,l918.

taken 01f.

l W. P. BEECE, OF BOXBUBY, MASSACHUSETTS.

KNITTING-NEEDLE.

' I To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KARL W. P. REEGE, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and resident of Roxbury,-in the county of Suffolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inKnitting-Needles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to knitting needles for hand knitting. Theinstrument usually employed for articles knit in shaped or unshaped flatbreadths, as distinguished from articles knit in tubular form, hasheretofore been made as an integral uniformly cylindrical shank of bone,ivory, wood, celluloid or metal having a blunt point and provided with abutton or head relied upon to keep the loops of the last course or rowof loops knit, which are impale'dupon the needle as formed, fromslipping off the head end of the needle. The operation, as well known,comprises pulling a new course of loops one y one through the previouscourse with the b unt point of another similar needle upon which theloops of the new course are strung as they are formed. A complete courseor row of loops across the article is thus held on a needle when thelast loop is v knit through and discharged from the needle from whichthe previous course'is being Whenmaking many different kinds of garmentsor articles itis necessary to cease V knittingat some part of a coursewhich is subsequently to be joined to following parts of the fabric byknitting again through these loops, but which can not be so joined untila separate part of the fabric is finished, as when a neck-opening is tobe left in a garment having a back and front lmit in integralsuccession. In this case and in many other situations it has heretoforebeen customary to take off the loops of the part of a course at whichknitting is temporarily suspended on to a third instrument, so as torelease the point of the needle then carrying the loops to permit makingthe other part of the garment. It requires time, care and skill toremove part of a course of loops and put them on another instrument(such as the safety-pin commonly employed) and thereafter take 7 themback in the right order on the operat- Specification of Letters Yatent.

Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

Application filed September 13, 1917. Serial No. 191,203.

course from the needle on which they were formed, comprising a needleformed in two or more sections which can be disengaged and again engagedwhile carrying the desired number of impaled loops in such a manner asto permit the loops to be slid from one section to another section.

Further objects of my invention are to provide a knitting needle havinga transfer end or section from and to which the loops can be slippedreadily in the order in which they are formed and strun upon the needle,the. device providing or the easy removal of the end or transfer sectionof the needle and .for preventing the loops on the transfer section fromaccidentally slipping therefrom. I

Another object of my invention is to provide a genus of constructionsfor the general purpose above described which shall be cheap, durableand effective.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is an elevation ofone form of the needle corresponding to my invention and including afragmentary showing of fabric loops strung upon the needle;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view separately illustrating the removabletransfer section of said needle and a cap therefor;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating a modified form ofneedle;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of a transfer section adapted to be used with theneedle shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section, and Fig. 6 a detailillustrating a tubular metallic needle corresponding to my invention;

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are detail longitudinal sections illustratingdifi'erent modified forms of joints between. transfer section andneedle-shank, and transfer section and temporary head, of needlescorresponding to my invention;

Fig. 10 is a modification illustrating an integral-head form of transfersection for a nefidle adaptedto some classes of fabric; an

Fig. 11 illustrates diagrammatically one operation in which the transfersection is particularly useful.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a cylindrical shank 1 having a blunt point 2is provided with a transfer section 3 joined to the shank 1 at 4. In theform shown in said figure the joint at 4 may comprise an integral re- Asindicated in Fig. 1, the loops 10 of the last course'of the'fabric arethreaded as formed on the shank 1, and all or the desired part of theloops 10 may he slipped on to section 3, which should belong enough tohold in a compressed state the desired number of loops.- If knitting isto be suspended on the loops thus placed on the section 3 the needle isseparated at the joint 4 and a temporary head 8 is removed from the head6 and screwed into the other end of the section 3.

A temporary head 11 for the needle section 1 having a threaded opening12 may if desired be carried on a threaded stud 13 of the head 8.Usually I prefer to provide an additional section 3 which can be placedon the shank 1 whenever a section 3 is removed from the shank 1 withsuspended loops upon it.

It will be understood that the screw joints 7 mentioned areinterchangeable, all being the same size. When the. material of theneedle is of wood, bone, celluloid or the like I prefer to make the malemembers of the screws of separate metallic pieces.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the shank 1 may be provided with an extension15 having a removable head 17 suitably held as by the screw joint 18.When 100 s are to'be transferred from a needle of t is form the head 17is unscrewed and a headed transfer section 16 screwed on in its place,and the transfer loops are then removed on the sec tion 16, which may beprovided with a temporary head 19 to hold the loops. It will be observedthat the needle 1, 15 isstill sep-' arable at the joint 4 to permitsuspending a further seriesof loops by removing the section 15. In anyof the forms of my device I may so divide the needle in several placesfor this purpose.

Knitting needles made according to my invention may be constructed inany durable and satisfactory manner. As shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 forinstance, a point section 20 a of any desired material such as celluloidor metal may be fastened into the end of a tubular section 21 of thinand light metallic tubing, the shank 21 being furnished with a transfersection or extension 22 of similar tubing, the joint 4 in this casebeing provided with an externally threaded sleeve 23 seated in the shank21 and adapted to receive the section 22, which is internally threadedat e end. A head 2% may h openings the friction coupling.

menses brazed or fastened to the section 22 in any desiredmanner, and atemporary head 25 I may be provided with a suitable threaded extension26 for engagement with section 22. A temporary head for the section 21(not shown) 'may be provided with an internally threaded hole to screwon the .sleeve 23.

sembled. Suitable temporary heads 27 provided with .plug members '28 maybe provided for the needle or the transfer section. As many such jointsas desired may be provided in the length of the needle.

, Another construction is shown in Fig. 8, the end of the section 21being bored out to a taper, to receive the swaged end 29 ofthe section22. If desired, the smooth'outer surface of the needle may be maintainedby mounting on such a swaged section a shoulder-collar 30 against whichthe section 21 bottoms. The collar 30 may be applied as shown in dottedlines, and -then ground away to conform to the cylindrical surface ofthe needle. Temporary heads for the form shown in Figs. and 8 may, asshown in Fig. 9 at 31, be provided with suitable 32 to receive the malemember of As shown in Fig. 10, for some classes of work it is possibleto provide permanent heads for the shank 1, and one or more removablesections 3, for instance, by providing a globular enlargement 33transversely divided at the joint 4. Loose knitting can he slipped overthe enlargement 33 on to the section 3, and the needle then divided. Anysuitable joint structure, as

ployed with this construction.

A typical use of the device is illustrated l in Fig. 11, in which asleeveless sweater blankknit in the direction of the arrow 115 is shown.The operator will first knit a. ribbed section a for the front blank 6.When this has reached a sufiicient length at .the line a the loops fromdto e may be taken 0d and suspended or the loops from d to f we fastenedofl" and the loops from f to e taken ofi the needle and suspended, asindicated by the section 3 shown in dotted lines.

The loops from c to (1 remain on the needles, and the narrowed andwidened shoul- 125 der section g is next made to the line 72., whereupontheterminal course of this section may be suspended'and knitting for thesection 2' for the other shoulder resumed.

im the screw joint indicated at 34, may be emv 7'' to e, for instance,can be returned to an empty or full needle by applying the section 3 tothe needle and slipping them on to shank 1.

What I claim is 1. A knitting needle having a shank and a transfersection adapted to be disengaged from or engaged with the shank whilecarrying loops formed on the shank of the needle.

2. A knitting needle having a shank section and a transfer section, andmeans foroining said sections together so that loops on one section maybe slid onto another section, the last mentioned section being adaptedto retain the loops when separated from the other section.

3. A knitting needle comprising a shank section and a loop-carryingtransfer section adapted to be joined together and separated, and a headmember adapted to be attached to one-of said sections when the other isre- 7 porary head for the needle adapted to be carried by said transfersection when not 1n use.

5. A knitting needle having a shank section and a removable transfersection adapted to receive loops formed on the shank sec tion, said,sections respectively being provided with the engaging parts of afriction oint adapted normally to hold said sections together inlongitudinal continuity, and being readily separable, whereby to removewith one of said sections a series of loops formed on the needle uponwhich knitting is temporarily suspended.

Signed byme at Boston, Massachusetts, this tenth day of September, 1917.

. v KARL W. P. REECE.

